Now you know EXACTLY why I will do anything -- ANYTHING, I tell you! -- to get out of jury duty. Same runaround about calling the night before and finding out I'm not needed after making preparations that rival a NASA space launch. Same assignment to a courthouse out in the west boonies when I could WALK to the courthouse downtown. Same general lack of understanding or consideration from local government regarding how inconvenient this is on some very basic levels. (Namely, if I don't work, I don't make money. There is no boss to make up the difference because I am self-employed.) How ironic that they will accept travel reservations as an over-the-phone excuse. But financial hardship must be proven, in person, to the judge before a prospective juror may be excused. Yeah, yeah, I believe in upholding my responsibilities as a citizen of this great free nation. But tell me: who is going to pay my mortgage and buy my groceries while I'm wasting three or seven or twenty-one days making $14.00 daily while serving on a jury? Karen

I've served on three juries. First one was a horrific child abuse case with disturbing details which stay with me to this day. Second was a drug possession case in which I learned more about crack than I needed to know! And third was a speeding ticket. When I was in college and got called, I always opted out (full time student), but hated doing so because I figured it would be fun and interesting. Boy was I wrong! That first case was so disturbing. I simply do not want to know these kinds of things. The second one was actually very interesting while we were in the courtroom, but in the jury room we had to deal with an idiotic juror who (I believe) wanted to be center of attention. She made everything extremely difficult and Friday afternoon when they came in and said we either had to decide or would have to come back on Monday, she suddenly gave in. OY! And the speeding ticket! In a notorious speed trap which I happened to know about because I'd lived near it for years. We had to listen to the defendant's attorney (for a speeding ticket!) ask the same questions over and over again to the cop about his radar gun. That street is four lanes and just begs to be speeded on and the limit is 30mph and there is ALWAYS at least one cop with a radar gun on that mile or so stretch. What a waste of 12 people's time, not including the judge and everyone else. So, at this point, I'm sorta jaded about jury duty. I know it needs to be done and I will go again when called but I really do feel I've done my duty!!

I realize this is a slightly old thread and its purpose is over, I just wanted to add my voice to those wishing you well on finding a job and getting settled into your new/old town. I am about to make a monumental move myself, so many things have changed in my life family and friend wise, I find myself thinking about home and "place," as in finding one's place among people, a great deal. I think undertaking such a change in mid life is much harder as there are no natural new groups forming, like through school or children. And for an introvert it must be doubly hard. I am convinced it is possible though. The right people will present themselves, so long as we put ourselves in their path through our interests and our service. Wishing you all the best.

I was called once and had to "be available" for 6 cases over the course of two weeks. For two of the cases I called in that morning, as directed, and they had been settled. For two other cases about 25 of us were in the courtroom, and 13 were randomly selected to potentially serve, the rest were dismissed for the day. For the remaining two cases I was a part of the group of 13 that were selected, but then the lawyers for each get to ask questions and then each select three jurors to remove from the panel. One case dealt with a man who claimed that his girlfriend had given him a horse, and after they broke up he sold the horse. She claimed that she had given him the use of the horse, and he had no right to sell it. In response to the lawyers' questions I disclosed that my wife and I own several horses. I was dismissed. For the other case where I was selected, the case was about a woman who was driving on a suspended license, who had an accident that injured another person. One of the questions the lawyers asked was "Have any of you ever been injured in an automobile accident?" I raised my hand. If they had asked for more information I would have said that it was a single car accident where the car slid on ice and hit a telephone pole, and my injury was nothing more than a bruise on my arm where it hit the stick shift. They didn't follow up and apparently that was enough for me to be dismissed. Oddly, at the time, one of the questions that was asked was "Is there anything that is going on that would distract you so that you would not be able to pay attention to the case?" To which everyone responded and questioning "no". After I was dismissed and made my way to my office at work I found all of my co-workers clustered around a static-y TV or a computer screen streaming news watching events unfold that morning in New York City, at the Pentagon, and in Pennsylvania.